Pulisic looked sharp, could have had an assist when he played reijnders in on goal. Leverkusen were clearly coached to be physical with him but it didn't throw him off his game. Milan are improving but were still 2nd best against a very good team today. Pulisic works hard and does fade a bit at the end of matches. I don't mind the late subs especially when he's starting 2 games a week.
Sub him off in a league game where they are leading? Yes. Sub him off in CL when the team is down a goal? Dumb.
I wish he had stayed on selfishly to see if he could create another chance, but if I'm being honest, I don't think it was dumb. Leao was awful and should have been yanked, but I also think CP sort of hit his wall at that point and I did not mind the sub. Also, while it is CL and Milan appear to be in a hole, their schedule is a bit front loaded and they are hoping/banking on picking up points in later fixtures to advance in the tourney. Gotta admit, Liverpool at home and BL away is a bit of a rough start. their next game at Home vs Brugge is a must-win imo, then they play away at Real Madrid (oof), but if they finish strong with their final games against Bratislava, Crvena, Girona and Zagreb, they may survive.
I'd have to disagree on this one. He was visibly gassed from like 61' or so. That's when the sharpness turned into turnovers. Not sure why he was gassed so early; perhaps due to their midfield struggling during the first half and the wings having to support from the back.
Pulisic gets gassed around 65-75 min because he runs his tail off. Unfortunately, he is the attacking MF that is tasked to drop back on defensive duty more often, we know Rafa ain't gonna do it. Hell, Leao is hardly even playing in the attack lately, let alone defense. And on the attack, as most of us are probably aware, Puli is making runs (like he did at Chelsea) that are often unseen by colleagues nor rewarded. I wish he had an engine like Kante, but those players are rare. I am ok with the early subs to preserve his health and future use and to give the team an energy boost. It's no slight on him as a player, as long as he continues to put in those work shifts.
He's usually gassed around the 70th minutes or so of every game consistently this season so far. A big reason for that is he spent a lot of time and energy tracking back into his own half to help with defending. Is this by design? Did Fonseca asked him to play like a two way midfielder? Or does he feel like he wants to help his team defend? Either way, I don't think this is the best use of Pulisic's skills and talents, he's best in the attacking third. I would personally like to see him use 90% or more of his energy on attacking, rather than 60% or 70%. Sure he can apply pressure up top and force the defenders to rush their passes or make errors up high, but he shouldn't be regularly tracking back to defend in his own half. To me, he's an attacker and not an end to end midfielder. This has got to stop.
Put an extra defender or midfielder in there. 3-5-2 is another option, or bring in Tuchel. That guy knows how to stop leaking goals
Maybe a 3-4-2-1? Gabbia---Tomori---Pavlovic Royal--Fofana--Reijnders--Theo Pulisic--Morata--Leao Paging Tuchel! lol
Milan might be targeting USMNT Cardoso in January. https://www.google.com/amp/s/sempremilan.com/tuttosport-milan-fofana-deputy-january-possible/amp
I don't mind him being a 2 way player at all. I am not sure modern football allows for the luxury of very many guys on a side not tracking back. It doesn't take long for a top team to exploit that weakness creating overloads and mismatches in the empty space. He is a very good player, but it isn't like he is Irling Haaland. In fact that is a large part of his value. He contributes even when he isn't scoring or assisting.
He played that way earlier in his career. He's not so good at attacking that he and his team can afford him to skirt his defensive duties. So much of the game now is about shape and cohesion. If he doesn't defend, he doesn't play. That's proven out across multiple coaches now.
Milan v Florence today. If Milan can win this one they hop up to 2nd. Would be a nice way to complete the recovery. With everyone giving up a few points here and there in the early going there's a nice tight battle at the top of standings for now.
55m? They'd sell instantly. Manchester united have some of the worst fans. Generally epl fans are quite plastic and will point fingers at the American player. Tim Howard comes to mind.